


burning red.

by puddingcatbeans



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Ficlet Collection, First Meetings, Gen, college au but with a side of demon hunting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:53:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21894703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puddingcatbeans/pseuds/puddingcatbeans
Summary: Neil has known he's an anomaly all his life. He knows he's living on borrowed time.But what he knows more than anything else is this:survive.
Relationships: Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 10
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is very loosely inspired by kyoukai no kanata anime which i love because it's kyoani but also hate bc the potential it gave and the actual execution left me with lots of questions and gaps...
> 
> i have some scenes i want to explore in these AUs, so i would be updating at my leisure and most likely with non-linear vignettes!!
> 
> here's the link to [tumblr post](https://puddingcatbeans.tumblr.com/post/188601272465/burning-red-andreil-knk-au-someone-is-chasing)

Someone is chasing him.

There’s always someone chasing him. Neil was born with a rabbit heart in a lion’s den and hit the ground sprinting before he even learned how to breathe. Being chased, running away—that is all he knows. 

Someone is chasing him, footsteps light and practised. They’re gaining on him. Neil runs.

He makes a sharp turn down a hallway. He thinks he’s in one of the science buildings. He’s only recently transferred into this school and hadn’t had a chance to memorize the campus map yet. A rookie mistake.

Neil spots an emergency exit door and slams through it. Late afternoon sunlight almost blinds him. It’s still summer, and most classes finished hours ago. He’s lucky the campus is mostly empty. Neil sprints around the back of the building, sneakered feet pounding on pavement. He doesn’t hear his pursuer’s footsteps, but he doesn’t slow down. He does, however, risk a glance over his shoulder.

A stupid move.

There’s nothing behind him, but when he faces forwards again, a blur of black flies out of nowhere. Neil’s momentum is too much to stop. The next thing he knows, he’s on his knees, breath stuttering in his chest, a glistening red knife through his gut.

He stares up at his assailant. Impassive hazel eyes stare back at him.

“Fuck you,” Neil gasps.

“Die,” the other man replies.

Shock fades, and pain starts to register. It’s sharp, jagged, like lightning, until all of a sudden it is not. It is flames. Neil is being burned from the inside out. It hurts but it’s strange—it’s warm, bubbling up from his stomach to his chest until he is suffocating with the heat—it’s unpleasant, but Neil hasn’t felt this warm in so long—it’s a cigarette lighter, a slow wildfire.

But Neil is cursed, see. These are all the things he knows: _run. hide._

_**survive.** _

With gritted teeth, Neil grasps the blade lodged in his stomach and drags it out. The Spirit World warrior before him doesn’t move, doesn’t lift his hand from the hilt of the knife. He just watches, eyes narrowed and expression as blank as Neil’s nonexistent birth certificate.

“How?” is all the warrior says.

Neil coughs out the blood welling in his throat. The hole in his abdomen is already starting to seal itself together. He grins, baring red-stained teeth and a ferality that is not his own.

“Sorry to disappoint. I’m not that easy to kill.”

Something sparks in those hazel eyes. Not quite anger, not quite curiosity. Something sparks, and Neil can feel something in his inhuman core respond in kind.

“Oh,” the warrior says in a low drawl, “we’ll see about that.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -this one is more true to the beginning of the kyoukai no kanata anime  
> -in this au, the nest is less of an Evil Organisation and more of just the big org that cleans up the messes of demons and otherworldly spirits that pop up; the foxhole court is a division under the nest, palmetto is under their jurisdiction   
> -i think neil will probably sound ooc (bc he's not running for his life so much,, until andrew showed up lmao)  
> -i guess they play hockey in this au. exy is not a thing bc the nest is too busy putting out fantasy fires to sponsor a fantasy sport

Neil sees the figure on the roof before he's even reached the dormitory parking lot. He stops and squints up. The sun is just starting to set, but all he can make out is a dark hoodie and feet dangling off the side of the building. A fall from that height probably isn't certain death, but it is certain broken bones.

He should probably ignore it. Or call someone else to deal with it. Neil's job is to stay anonymous, keep his head down. Talking someone down from suicidal tendencies is not keeping his head down.

He's halfway up the stairs to his floor. Neil grits his teeth and growls into the empty stairwell. Fingers gripping the strap of his bag, Neil jogs up the last few flights of stairs to the roof.

The person hasn't moved. From this angle, they're covering the sun completely, orange and gold spreading out like wings around them. Neil's fingers clench on his bag strap.

"Hey," he calls, a step from the door. "You shouldn't sit on the edge like that."

No response.

Neil squints against the sunset. It's a boy, dressed in all black. Broad shoulders despite his small size, and a very familiar crown of blond hair. "You've gotta be kidding me," Neil sighs. 

The boy exhales slowly. Smoke drifts up, framing his head. He grinds out the cigarette on the roof, and then stands. His clothes rustle in the wind. For a moment, it looks as if he's swaying. Neil is taking a step forwards before his brain can catch up.

Then the boy is in the air, a dark blur. Neil barely has time to dodge. He rolls, yanking the stick hanging off the side of his bag. He lifts it in time to block the knife from stabbing him in the gut. Again.

"Come _on_ ," Neil says. "We've been through this!"

The knife comes down again, and again. There's two. Of course the bastard can wield them with both hands simultaneously. Neil ducks, feeling the edge of a blade just barely miss carving off his ear. He blocks once more with the stick. The resounding _smack!_ is loud across the rooftop.

"Careful with that," Neil says, panting. "That's school property."

Those blank eyes bore into him silently. It's almost eerie, the way the guy's expression doesn't budge an inch throughout their violent interaction. Backlit by the setting sun, he looks like an angel of death.

Neil kicks him in the stomach---hard as rocks---and leaps back. He puts some distance between them to catch his breath. The warrior just stands there, watching. Annoying.

"Hey," Neil says. "Can we stop meeting like this?"

"If you agree to die by my hand."

"I refuse."

"Then die."

Neil yelps as the warrior suddenly dives forwards. He rolls towards the edge, facing the door. The sun's gone now, the last rays of light painting the boy's hair gold. Neil holds out his stick. 

"Look," Neil says. "I told you before. I might have demon blood in me, but I'm not dangerous."

"Liar."

"I'm not dangerous on purpose. The Nest knows I exist, and I'm under watch, alright? They placed me at Palmetto to keep a better eye on me. So you don't have to try so hard to kill me, okay?"

The other boy doesn't look impressed. "I was hired to assassinate you. I always complete my jobs."

"You're not doing a great job so far, are you?" Neil backs up when the boy takes a menacing step forwards. "Wait, okay, I told you. Look, if you don't believe me, just come with me to the Foxhole Court, Kevin will do a better job at explaining."

"Day?"

"Yeah, him. Big name to you Spirit World warriors, huh?"

The boy doesn't answer. He stares at Neil, knives still out. Then, slowly, the blood-red blades shrink and fade away. He pulls his sleeves down over his arms and crosses them.

"I still don't trust you."

Neil shrugs. "Didn't ask you to. As long as you stop stabbing me. I might be hard to kill but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."

"Move, then. Take me to Day."

**Author's Note:**

> i do have another andreil [demonblood au](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19717267) which is more based off aoex/natsuyuu, if you wanna check that out!!


End file.
